CEBU Province and the three highly urbanized cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu are all seeing double-digit two-week growth rates in coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases based on Department of Health (DOH) 7 case bulletins.
Aside from the possibility of a more contagious Sars-CoV-2 variant driving transmission, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Monday, July 12, 2021, reminded that multiple factors usually cause an increase in infections.
She said these factors include mobility, border controls and compliance to public health protocols, especially in workplaces and establishments.
She said they have verified the Covid-19 data in Central Visayas and confirmed that specific areas, like Cebu City and Cebu Province, are seeing an increase in cases.
“We still need to further verify so that we can have one message for these rising cases in Central Visayas,” she said in a press conference Monday.
Vergeire said coronavirus-positive samples from Central Visayas are regularly included among the samples that are subjected to whole genome sequencing.
The detection of the Sars-CoV-2 variant P.3 or Theta in Central Visayas early this year coincided with a spike in Covid-19 cases in the region, DOH Epidemiology Bureau Director Alethea de Guzman noted earlier.
Theta was initially included among the variants of interest by the World Health Organization, but was downgraded to the list of variants with “alerts for further monitoring.”
Based on DOH 7 case bulletins, new infections in the last two weeks from June 28 to July 11 increased by over 61 percent in Cebu Province, nearly 42 percent in Cebu City, around 46 percent in Mandaue City, and more than double, or 108 percent, in Lapu-Lapu City compared to the cases in the previous two weeks from June 14 to 27.